Promises
by waiting4morning
Summary: Thane asks Shepard one favor before he dies: please take care of Kolyat. Shepard must find a way to honor his promises to a grieving young drell and his vows to protect and defend the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

_Mass Effect and all the characters are owned by Bioware. I'm just playing in their lovely sandbox._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 1**

It always rained on Kahje.

Watching the endless water slide down the windows, Commander Koen Shepard walked though the curving, organic hallways of the hospital. He glanced at the round door portals set into the wall as he passed. Drell hospital staff passed him with curious eyes—humans weren't all that common on Kahje—and he had to fight the urge to stare back. Seeing this many drell in one place seemed strange to him—after all, he only knew two, one of which was following silently behind him.

"Here it is, Kolyat," Shepard said, stopping at a portal.

The young drell beside him nodded, his inner eyelids blinking rapidly in an expression Shepard had begun to recognize as anxiety. Shepard keyed the portal and they walked into the lock, waiting as the portal cycled shut behind them with a hiss of air. A polite VI requested them to wait while decontamination zapped germs from their bodies. The second door slid open, revealing a soothingly blue room. The bed and its occupant drew the eye right away, and Kolyat's hands trembled. Thane's eyes were closed and a clear oxygen mask rested over his nose and mouth. His scaled skin, a vibrant green when Shepard had last seen him, was pale and mottled.

"Maybe… maybe we shouldn't disturb him," Kolyat muttered, sounding both disappointed and relieved.

Thane opened his eyes. "Kolyat." His eyes flickered to Shepard. "Commander. Thank you for coming."

Shepard smiled. They might have been coming over for tea instead of visit to a dying man, but trust Thane's manners to remain intact, no matter the situation. He patted Kolyat on the shoulder.

"I'll leave you two alone," Shepard said and exited the room. A small waiting area with windows to overlook Kahje's restless oceans was a few short steps down the corridor. This was the third time he'd visited the hospital with Kolyat. Captain Bailey in C-Sec had agreed to entrust the young drell to Shepard's care without an escort. It was unfortunate that the reason for visiting the hospital would soon disappear…

"Commander Shepard?"

A voice with the distinct drell burr intruded into his thoughts. Shepard looked up at a willowy drell with almost reddish orange scales on the face that faded to a buttery yellow on the head crests. Something seemed off though and it took Shepard a minute to place what it was: the leathery folds of the drell's throat were smaller than on Kolyat and Thane and they weren't as red. _Female_, Shepard's brain supplied, remembering how Kolyat had taught him to tell the difference.

"Yeah?"

The drell sat down opposite him. "I'm Asaera Otas, Sere Krios' patient advocate—what you might call a social worker at a human hospital."

"Nice to meet you," Shepard said, shaking her hand. "I'm glad Thane has someone to watch over him here. He told me he has no family left —aside from his son."

Asaera nodded, leaning forward. Shepard noted with mild interest that the V-shaped cut of her loose, white tunic revealed a flat chest as yellow as the last leaves of autumn.

"A few of the hanar have come to see him," she said, seemingly unaware of his gaze, "but despite our long association with them, hanar view death in a more… pragmatic way. They mourn, certainly, but when a clutch of hanar young can contain hundreds, if not thousands of eggs, it is difficult for them to get upset over the death of an individual."

"Makes sense, I guess," Shepard nodded, wondering where this was leading.

"I suppose you're wondering why I stopped to talk to you," Asaera said, smoothing her slender fingers over her loose trousers. "Sere Krios speaks highly of you, and he does not seem the type to have many friends. What exactly is your relationship with him?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "We're not lovers, if that's what you're getting at," he said bluntly. His brusque way of talking had often gotten him in trouble in the military, but being raised on the streets of urban Earth hadn't given him the social niceties for beating around the bush.

"I know that," Asaera said in a calm voice, her inner eyelids flicking across her dark eyes. "However, you misunderstood the question. Humans are always so inclined to leap to sexual innuendo."

Shepard shrugged, a little uncomfortable. "Sorry." He paused, choosing his words now with more care. "Thane is… a friend. He helped me out in a big way several months ago on an important mission. I owe him my life a couple times over."

Asaera nodded, making a small note on her datapad. "Commander, I'm not sure how much you know about drell, but as a species we don't go through a biological adolescence. Kolyat, for example, is considered a full adult in our society, though to you with your notions of 'the teenage years' he may seem little more than a child." She paused. "However, much of what to a drell is a healthy psyche, Kolyat lacks." She paused again as if to judge Shepard's reaction. "Kolyat's memories are perfect and he recalls every time his father was absent, every time his father ignored his pleas for attention."

Shepard shifted. "I know Thane and Kolyat have a difficult relationship, but they made some good progress."

Asaera nodded. "Yes, they have, and I have rejoiced to see it. However, it probably won't be enough to balm the wounds of ten years of neglect. You will have to deal with the consequences of an emotionally damaged young man, and I don't know if you are prepared to deal with that."

Shepard opened his mouth to ask her what she was talking about when he heard footsteps coming down the hall.

"Commander?" Kolyat came around the corner, a dejected slump to his shoulders.

"Kolyat? What's wrong?" Shepard got to his feet. Surely Thane hadn't….

"Not yet," Kolyat mumbled, picking up on Shepard's anxiety. He picked at his lower lip. "He wants to talk to you for a minute."

Shepard glanced at the social worker, but she gestured him forward. "Kolyat, sit with me for a moment, please?"

Shepard walked through the portal, endured another decon cycle, and entered the room. Thane was sitting up in the bed now, though he still looked tired, and Shepard could see his breath misting the inside of the oxygen mask. Shepard took a seat on a chair beside the bed.

"Thane, for a dying man, you have all the luck. That social worker advocate lady? Tell me I'm right in thinking she's too good for you."

Thane chuckled. "When she was first assigned to me, I don't think she realized how sick I was. I'm quite certain she expected me to assassinate her or something." He paused for breath. "But she is, as you observed, quite… easy on the eyes."

"Well, I can't take all the credit for knowing that," Shepard laughed. "Kolyat has been educating me on the intricacies of drell beauty."

Thane's expression turned solemn, his eyes going distant. "He is growing up so quickly…" His breathing quickened and Shepard sat forward in alarm as Thane slipped into a memory. "I see my son for the first time in ten years about to blow a man's head off. This shouldn't be. If I had been there for him we might even now be celebrating his betrothal. Instead his eyes meet mine, surprised, angry; hard. It is like looking into a mirror and that thought frightens me more than the gun trembling in his hands."

Thane gasped for air as the memory left him, his breathing rough and labored. Shepard was on the verge for pressing the call-nurse button, but Thane seemed to recover after a moment, resting against the pillow behind his head.

"My apologies," he said when he had caught his breath. "Mnemonic episodes are not healthy for me in this weakened state. The nurses have been giving me a special medicine to keep them subdued, but they tend to dull the senses and I wanted to be fully awake for your visit." He paused, his dark, liquid eyes meeting Shepard's. "Commander, I wanted to speak to you because I wish to ask you something important; something I would not dare trust to another soul."

Concerned, Shepard leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Of course. Anything you need, name it."

"When I die… watch over Kolyat. Please."

Shepard's first instinct was to say no, to offer up a hundred legitimate excuses that sprang to his lips. But one look at the desperation in Thane's eyes and Shepard's protests died away.

"I… I will keep an eye on him," he said finally, in a halting voice that didn't quite sound like his. "But Thane, are you sure? I mean, when Bailey's done with him, I thought he'd come back here to be with his own people, and I'm not exactly good with kids."

Thane smiled, his exhaustion evident. "I couldn't ask for a better man." He paused and coughed into his mask, a wet sound that sucked at the drell's insides. "There isn't anyone else in the galaxy I can trust with this, Shepard. He is… more important to me than my own life." The dying drell stared up at the ceiling, a trickle of moisture trailing down the side of his face. "I cannot bear to think that when I die I will be leaving him helpless and adrift in such a galaxy as the one we live in. His soul is no longer disconnected, but the new bond is tenuous still. I fear that when I leave my body, the bonds he's forged will snap like dry sea coral and something worse than what we saved him from on the Citadel may occur."

"I won't let that happen," Shepard said firmly. "I promise."

Thane took a deep breath, eyes drifting shut. "That is all I ask. Thank you… Shepard."

Shepard looked at his friend in alarm. "Thane?"

A tired chuckle came from the bed. "Don't worry, I'm in no danger of giving you a dramatic death scene yet. The doctor said I had a good lunar month left in me yet."

Shepard smiled, relieved, and stood. "I can see you're tired though, so I'll let you sleep."

When he exited the room, Kolyat was hunched at one of the windows overlooking the ocean. Asaera stood a little ways behind him. Shepard paused, wondering if Thane had told Kolyat what he had just been asked to do.

Asaera walked forward. "Commander, I have taken the liberty of informing Kolyat of his father's wishes. He knows that he will be under your care once his father's soul passes from his body."

An angry hum came from the direction of the young drell at the window. "No one asked me about this! Why can't I stay here? This is my home, not some stupid space station." He turned to the two adults, his rigid features pulled into an expression of fury.

Before Shepard could speak up, Asaera walked to the young drell, putting a slender hand on his arm. He shrugged her off. "Kolyat, your father does not wish you to become like him—a victim of the more… unsavory sides of the Compact."

"Not if I can help it," Shepard put in. "Plus, your community service with Bailey isn't quite over yet. He told me he wouldn't mind hiring you after it's over—it'd give you good experience and a way to earn some credits."

Kolyat made an exasperated noise and flung himself away from the window. "Fine," he spat. "Let's just go then. I hate it here." He stalked past Asaera and Shepard.

Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I did warn you," Asaera said, sounding amused and compassionate at the same time. She activated her omni-tool. "I'll give you my contact information in case of any updates from Sere Krios."

"Thanks. Well, I'd better go after him." He nodded goodbye to the drell woman and followed Kolyat's retreating footsteps. _What am I getting myself into?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

Once the shuttle door opened in the cargo bay of the _Normandy_, Kolyat stepped off and slouched toward the elevator. Shepard let him go; the shuttle ride together had been bad enough. Not that he could really blame him…

"Shepard!" Tali waved to them over an opened cargo box near the elevator. "Hi, Kolyat."

Kolyat emerged slightly from his brooding silence. "Hey."

Tali cocked her helmet, perhaps sensing his mood. "We picked up some components for the new shielding system. Want to help me install them later?"

"Uh, sure." Kolyat hesitated a moment then continued on toward the elevator. Shepard walked over to Tali.

"That'll be the last of the repairs, right?"

"Should be." Tali tapped some information into her omni-tool.

Shepard clapped her on the shoulder. "I'm not sure what we're going to do without you, Tali."

Tali's luminescent eyes glanced up at him. "I won't be gone long. The Reapers are coming, and I'm going to be there when you take them down."

"I know, Tali. Thanks." Shepard grinned and folded his arms across his chest. "But before we let you back on the Flotilla, Garrus and I need to vet this guy—Kal'Reegar. He's a good soldier, sure, but we're not quite sure he's good enough for you."

"Shepard!"

"Hey are you blushing under there? It's hard to tell," he teased.

Tali turned away from him, helmet in her hands. "Keelah, just tell me when this bad dream is over."

Shepard laughed. "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will."

Shepard continued to the elevator. He got out at the mess, glancing around. Miranda was seated at the table, chopsticks poised above an almost empty bowl, eyes on the datapad in front of her.

"Operative Lawson," Shepard said, passing by the table on the way to inspect whatever Gardner had prepared for the evening meal.

"Commander," Miranda responded coolly, not looking up from her datapad. Shepard filled his bowl with steaming rice and a spicy mix of vegetables and meat to go on top. He sat down at the opposite end of the table from Miranda, wondering if he should take a bowl to Kolyat. He didn't feel like he should force the issue, but they had to talk about it sometime and soon since Thane wasn't likely to last very long.

He didn't know which would be worse: a slow, lingering death, or a quick, unexpected one. Both were painful, but in different ways. Either way, Kolyat was not going to come out unscathed. Shepard knew from experience…

"Commander?" Miranda stood from the table, chopsticks set over her empty bowl. "There's something I want you to look at later concerning the repairs to the elevator."

Shepard raised a brow. "I thought the elevator was fixed?"

A small furrow appeared between her eyes. "Read the report and you can decide for yourself," she said in a firm voice. "It's nothing big. Possibly only 200 credits, but I would like your…. input."

Shepard looked determinedly down into his bowl, stirring the food with his chopsticks. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you, Commander." The clack of her heels faded as she left to her office and Shepard was left alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Shepard yawned as he stood at his terminal in the CIC, glancing up at the time. Noticing that it was nearly two o'clock, he finished his work and logged off the computer.

"_There's something I want you to look at later concerning the repairs to the elevator."_

Shepard rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace and shut down his terminal. "EDI, I'm going to bed. Wake me if there's an emergency."

"Understood, Commander. Logging you out."

Shepard ambled to the elevator and tapped the console, not at all surprised when it headed down first instead of up. It stopped at the crew deck, opening to reveal Miranda, arms crossed, a scowl on her full lips.

"Still awake, Operative Lawson?"

"Shut it," she snapped with uncharacteristic vigor and entered the elevator.

The doors had barely closed when she was on him, scowling lips melting into a smile of pleasure as they met his. "I thought you weren't going to make it," she murmured against his throat, trailing kisses along the underside of his jaw to the hollow of his collarbone. Her hands snaked under his shirt, teasing the skin on his stomach.

"Miranda," Shepard said in a tight voice—this woman did know how to… "We talked about this—"

"Mmhm." Miranda's hands were going lower and she let out a throaty chuckle at the look on his face.

Shepard managed to reach out to the elevator console, tapping the button to his quarters as Miranda looped her arms around his neck, her lips tracing hot fire across the hollow of his jaw. Their desperate encounter on the Engineering Deck before entering the Omega-4 relay had been an isolated incident—or so Shepard thought. In the months following, between keeping a safe distance from Cerberus agents, getting necessary repairs to the _Normandy_, and getting the word out to allies about the Collectors, they hadn't had much time for many such intimate moments. The ones they did have, however, were so secret as to be ludicrous.

He would like to be able to admit to Garrus, Jacob, and Joker that he and Miranda were a couple instead of sneaking around like some kind of criminal. It wasn't too much to ask, right? But Miranda was a cautious woman—she did things in her own time. He supposed he would just have to be patient.

Miranda suddenly stopped her mission to rid Shepard of all his clothes, and traced absent circles on his chest with her fingers. "I… I've been thinking, Shepard… about… about us."

Feeling like someone had dangled a brand new M-12 Hurricane assault rifle under his nose and then jerked it away, Shepard struggled to switch gears. It was doubly hard with her waist still cradled in his hands. "Yeah?" he managed.

"Well, I got to thinking about why you were on Kahje, and I wondered what I would do if that were you in that hospital room, not Krios." She glanced up at him and he was startled to see tears sparkling in her eyes. "I… I couldn't stand the thought that you could be taken from me, and I would never have the opportunity to tell you that… that…" She blew out a frustrated breath. "Why is this so hard?" She bit her lip, looking away from him. "I… I love you."

Shepard lifted her face gently, stroking the sides of her face with his thumb. "Who said anything about love? I'm just trying to get you into bed."

Miranda laughed. "Ass."

"Good idea." Shepard used both hands to grab Miranda on her backside, pulling her up so that she straddled him. She yelped in surprise, and laughed, folding herself more comfortably into his embrace. A moment later, the elevator stopped at Shepard's cabin and nothing more needed to be said.

* * *

_In case you're interested, here's a shortened URL to a pic of the Shepard that was in my head as I wrote this story: _bit[dot]ly[dot][backslash]aJLmqp


	3. Chapter 3

_Many thanks to Sharem and We Will Conquer who beta'd this story!_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

A month passed. Shepard and the crew of the Normandy dodged another Cerberus attempt to rein them in. They dropped Grunt off at Tuchanka to learn more about becoming an adult under Wrex's tutelage, and Samara left to do some justicar work on Omega. Tali was almost finished with her tweaks to the Normandy—soon they would have to swing by the Migrant Fleet to drop her off. Jack seemed disinclined to leave, but did not give a reason why, only said that she would leave when she felt like it.

And on Kahje one day, Thane Krios gazed out on one of the beautiful sunsets, closed his eyes, and breathed no more.

* * *

_Koen accepted the cold cloth and pressed it to the cut above his eye with a wince._

_"Want to tell me how that happened?" Josiah's voice was mild and calm as always, but his eyes were worried._

_"None of your business," Koen snarled, loud enough that some homeless folks eating a few tables over looked up. _

_"Wasn't gang related then." _

_Koen glared at him, suspicious. "How do you know?" His eyes brightened with inspiration. "It was, uh, just a fight with some Knife that got too close to Red territory. We showed him good."_

_ Josiah shook his head. "Boy, every time I've seen you come in here with a bruise from a gang fight, you carried it like a badge of honor, not even minding the pain." He paused, looking at Koen over the rim of his coffee cup. "Was it your father?" _

"Commander Shepard?"

Shepard came to wakefulness with a start.

"Yeah?" He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, halfway expecting to see the old pastor from Earth sitting at his desk, drinking coffee like he always was.

"The comm buoy we are currently linked to is attempting to send you a tightbeam video communication mail from Kahje," said EDI. "Shall I tell them to call back?"

"No, I'll take it," Shepard said, shoving aside the bed sheets. Real time vid mails were expensive from planetside to ship—and seeing as it was coming from Kahje…. A sinking feeling settled into his gut.

"EDI, tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel once the call is over."

"Of course, Commander." A moment passed. Shepard dug out a clean pair of pants from the wardrobe as EDI spoke again. "Commander, Mr. Moreau would like to remind you that we are scheduled to mine for iridium in this system as our current supply is at a very low level."

"I don't care!" He snapped, shrugging into his shirt. "Tell him that's an order, and if we're not headed toward the Citadel by the time I get to the CIC I'll kick his brittle ass."

"Understood, Commander."

After dressing, he spared a moment to splash some water on his face, washing away the last vestiges of sleep, and sat down at his personal terminal.

The sunny yellow face of the drell social worker from the hospital on Kahje appeared on his screen. "Commander Shepard, I'm sorry for the inconvenience of the call, but I'm afraid I have some… news."

Shepard's heart sank. "I thought as much."

A few seconds' lag and then Asaera inclined her head. "Thane Krios' soul has departed his body. His end was peaceful and painless." She paused. Was that a tremor in her voice or just a bad connection? "Please inform Kolyat that I have taken the liberty of preparing his vessel—his body—for burial."

"I will. We'll go to the Citadel to pick him up and should be on the way to Kahje as soon as possible." He paused. "Thank you for calling to let me know."

"Thank you, Commander."

The vid-mail connection ended.

* * *

When the Normandy reached the Citadel, it was still early morning according to the Citadel day cycle. Kolyat should still be asleep. Shepard had taken the liberty of renting out a small apartment on Zakera Ward where the young drell could live while he finished his community service with C-Sec. To this apartment he hurried, dodging early morning passersby and some bleary-eyed patrons who slouched out of the Dark Star, looking like they'd never gone to bed.

Shepard hurried up a couple of flights of stairs and walked down the corridor that the stairwell opened up to, examining the doors for the right number. There it was—

"Shepard!"

Right next to the door to Kolyat's apartment, Shepard turned as a figure in blue Alliance fatigues trotted down the hall to meet him.

"Kaidan," Shepard said, nodding. After the disastrous meeting on Horizon, Shepard hadn't heard a word from his former crewmate and assumed that he never would. But when Shepard had returned from the Omega-4 relay, Kaidan and Anderson had sent him a message that they were working behind the scenes, rallying support to prepare for the Reaper invasion. It hurt that Kaidan couldn't have been bothered to show his support personally, but Shepard would take what he could get.

"What are you doing here?" Shepard asked, momentarily distracted from his purpose.

"I'd heard you rented out an apartment on the ward, and I have some news so I came to find you." Alenko clearly had just woken up as well: a fleck of shaving cream still stuck to his neck.

"Anderson and I have been working on the Council for months, ever since you, ah… came back. In one her most recent discussions with Anderson, Councilor Tevos learned that you had an asari justicar on your squad and it changed the whole course of the conversation." Alenko grinned. "If Justicar Samara is willing to testify to your honesty for the events of the past couple of months, the Councilor is willing to perform what she called a 'mind joining' to ascertain the proof of the Reaper threat."

Shepard stared at him and ran a hand through his short-cropped hair. Alenko's grin faltered.

"Something wrong, Commander?"

"No," Shepard chuckled at the irony. "No, that's great news, Kaidan. I really… wow. I just wish this had happened months ago." He rubbed the back of his neck. "The thing is, now is not really a good time."

Kaidan drew back with a frown. "'Not a good time'?" he repeated incredulously. "Commander, this is the first sign the Council has given that they're willing to listen to us about the threat of the Reapers, and you're going to blow them off?"

"No, I'm not," Shepard sighed. "One of my squad died and left his son in my care. I was on my way to tell him and pick him up for the funeral when you stopped me. In any case, Samara isn't even on the _Normandy_ anymore."

"What?"

"She's on Omega doing… whatever it is that justicars do." Shepard shrugged, thinking quickly. A dead drell's son or a galaxy-changing mind meld? He blew out a frustrated breath. "Look, I have to do this for the kid. He doesn't have anyone left in the galaxy. Plus, I'll need to go back to Omega to find Samara. If you can give me a couple of weeks…"

Kaidan nodded, looking wary but relieved. "Of course, Commander. I got the feeling that Councilor Tevos wasn't much looking forward to meeting the justicar anyway. I'll let Anderson know."

"Thanks."

"Commander?" Kaidan's cautious voice stopped Shepard from where he had been preparing to walk away. "Your squadmate—the one who died—it wasn't… from your mission through the Relay was it?"

Shepard didn't look at him, knowing he would see the same expression on his former teammate's face that he had seen after Virmire. "No," he said after a moment. "Thane had been sick for a long time."

Silence fell between the two men. "You know that Ashley's mom was at your funeral, right?"

Shepard closed his eyes. "Was she?"

"Yeah. We let her take your Systems Alliance Flag since you didn't have any other family."

_"We'll talk later, Ash."_

_"Looking forward to it, Skipper." A flash of a smile, mischievous brown eyes…_

Shepard shook off the memory quickly, chest tight. He should call Mrs. Williams—apologize or something. Captain Anderson had taken the duty of informing Ashley's family of her death—it was the first time in a long time that Shepard had acted like a coward. He should have been the one to tell them—but how could he be the calm, compassionate commanding officer when his own heart was in shattered little pieces?

Enough. Shepard took a breath and turned to Kaidan. "Thanks for all your work, Kaidan."

Kaidan looked surprised. "You're welcome, sir—Shepard." He paused. "We should grab a beer sometime."

Shepard nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that."

He turned and walked the few feet left to the door of the apartment, wondering how he was going to break the news to the kid. Standing at the door, hand raised to press the bell, Shepard noticed with a shock that the door was already open. One hand went to his sidearm as Shepard stepped over the threshold

"Kolyat?"

The door opened to a short hallway: bathroom on left, kitchen on right, bedroom straight ahead. He could see Kolyat's lean figure hunched at the small desk he'd crammed into the corner. Shepard blew out a relieved breath and lifted his hand from his gun; no intruders then.

"Kolyat, you left your door…" His words faded as the young drell looked up at him, twin streams of tears running down his scaled cheeks.

"I heard you talking with that Alliance guy," Kolyat muttered, swiping at his face.

Shepard hesitated, then put a hand on the kid's shoulder. For once, Kolyat didn't shove him away.

"I heard from the hospital this morning and got here as fast as I could," he said in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry that you couldn't be there with him."

"No. It's okay." Kolyat rubbed at his eyes. "I mean, we both knew it would happen…" He looked away as his voice cracked and faded. "Can we leave now?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and pack your things. I'll go let Bailey know that you'll be gone for awhile."

"Wait. I'll… I'll go with you." Kolyat got up and hurried around the small apartment, throwing a random assortment of items into a small bag as if he wasn't really looking at what he was picking up.

"Clothes," reminded Shepard in a quiet voice.

"Yeah," the kid said with a fake laugh. "Almost forgot."

Soon enough, he was packed and the two left the apartment. They spoke little as they walked through the ward, and Koen wondered if he should say something. No one had tried to comfort him after Ashley died—they'd all been too busy grieving themselves. He might not have accepted it if they had—he'd been too angry at Ash for not surviving and at himself for trusting her words that she "could take of herself." But Kolyat wasn't a battle-hardened marine. He was just a kid who'd lost his father.

"Kolyat, are you okay?" He winced inwardly as the words left his mouth. Of course the drell wasn't okay—his father had died.

Kolyat's large dark eyes blinked at him, then he looked away. "Not… really. But… thanks. For coming. It… it means a lot."

Koen nodded. "Anytime, Kolyat. I mean it."

They walked in silence a few moments more. Then, hesitating, Kolyat spoke again, "Uh, Commander?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me how you met my dad?"

Shepard thought for a moment—Thane had gone to Dantius Towers for the sole purpose of killing someone, but he also saved a lot of innocent lives that night. "Thane was on my list of people I wanted for my team. I picked up his trail on Illium. An old friend—an information broker—had heard he was in Nos Astra…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

_Koen took a deep breath, tugged once at the stiff collar of his new Alliance uniform, and stepped off the public transport onto 11th Street. Nothing had changed in the time he'd been away. The same filthy streets, the same stink of rotting garbage; the same tattooed kids eyeing him greedily from a corner. Once he would have picked a fight—he was a Red and no one looked funny at a Red, but now he simply moved his gaze elsewhere, hand brushing the pistol he was now certified to carry. _

_He could see the community center ahead and his heart thumped once with dread. The last time he'd seen Josiah… He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to relive the shame, but the memories rushed forth anyway: he'd beaten up an old man who'd never shown him anything but kindness, and stole money that would have been given to the needy families in the area. He'd bolted from the church, the pain of betrayal in Josiah Shepard's eyes too much to bear. _

_The police found him a few minutes later and brought him back, quivering with fear and anger, certain that the old man would have him put away for good. _

_Josiah, one eye starting to swell shut, smiled at the officer. Koen froze, disbelieving, as Josiah calmly lied to the officer. He said he'd fallen down the stairs—said he'd given the money to Koen who was going to sign up with the Alliance and needed some pocket money. It was a lie—all of it. Koen hadn't even known that the old pastor _could_ lie._

_In the face of the respected community member's repeated denial of any wrongdoing, the officer had no choice but to let Koen go. Time seemed to stop as Josiah Shepard looked at the young man in front of him, shaking with disbelief and residual fear._

_"Well, Koen? What now?" The old man said, smiling._

_Koen ran._

_And now he was back. He'd done what he could to make sure Josiah's lie would become true—he'd signed up a day later with the Alliance recruiter, using the surname "Shepard." It seemed fitting, especially since Koen had never claimed his step-father's name, and his mother's name had never been mentioned in his hearing. Also, it would help him remember what kind of person he was trying to be; what kind of person he was leaving behind._

_Stepping through the community center doors without realizing how he'd gotten there, Koen blinked, adjusting his eyes to the dimness inside. _

_"Can I help you?" A middle-aged woman with lines of exhaustion and worry lining her mouth looked up from a desk beside the door—one that he didn't remember being there._

_"I'm looking for Reverend Joe."_

_She frowned._

_"Josiah Shepard?" Koen said, a cold knot of worry forming in his gut._

_Her face cleared. "Oh yeah, him. I'm sorry; he died a few months back."_

The bell-like singing of the hanar had long ended, but still the young drell stared into the depths where his father's corpse had slipped beneath the waves. Shepard watched at an awkward distance, unsure of what to do. Did the kid need some time alone, or was Shepard just reinforcing the fact that the kid had no one left in the world by not at least attempting to comfort him? He rubbed a hand over his face—Ashley would have known what to do. Didn't she have three sisters?

"Commander?"

Shepard turned to see Asaera Otas walking toward him, an asari with skin the color of the surrounding seas following behind.

"Commander, this is a colleague of mine—Lelyna."

The asari extended her hand, human style, and Shepard shook it.

"I apologize for intruding at such a time," she continued, glancing over at Kolyat's hunched figure, "but I needed to make sure I met with you before you left Kahje." She folded her hands in front of her. "Thane made an unusual request before his soul departed his body. He wanted to relive a memory for you, Commander, but not so that you could see Thane remember it—he wanted you remember it as he would."

Shepard frowned. "That doesn't make sense. How would I have access to Thane's memory unless I was there to watch him relive it?"

"That's where I come in, Commander," Lelyna said, inclining her head. "Asari possess the ability to transfer memory—though it is not often done except between intimates. But Asaera tells me you are in fact young Kolyat's father now—"

"Thane is—was his father," Shepard interrupted, voice firm. "I'm just looking out for the kid until…" His voice faltered. What _was_ he to Kolyat? Was he just supposed to abandon him when he stopped grieving? That didn't feel right.

Asaera's voice was compassionate. "You are his caretaker for the moment, at the very least. Commander, Thane wanted you to have this memory as a gift—a way for you to see Kolyat from his perspective. He also said it also contained… a warning." Her yellow eyebrow ridges drew close together in a frown. "Though I'm not quite sure what he meant about that last part. At any rate, it was the last thing he wanted."

Shepard eyed the asari, but she seemed calm and unaffected of his stare. "I've joined minds with asari before," he warned her. "And they all seemed to find it an exhausting experience."

Lelyna nodded. "A particularly strong mind can be tiring, but we can be seated so that there is no risk of injury. I am also a matron and have joined my mind many times before—mostly in service of patients like Sere Krios who wish to transfer a memory to a loved one."

"You won't go rooting around for… memories that are mine, will you?" His memories still included the disturbing message from the Prothean beacon, not to mention private events like his time with Miranda, or when he had stolen from Josiah. Things that no one else had any business seeing.

Lelyna shook her head. "I will be transferring a memory; not receiving any. There is a slight possibility of cross transference once the meld begins, but if your control is as strong as you claim, the memories that come across will be nothing but brief images—impossible to decipher and will offer no lasting trauma to myself. I am also trained to block another's memories—other patients I work with do not often have the control that you possess. For my own sanity, I must protect myself."

"All right." Shepard nodded. "Let's get it over with."

Having nowhere better to go and since there was no one else around aside from Kolyat at the edge of the pier, Shepard sat cross-legged on the platform, the salty wind tugging at his hair.

Lelyna gazed into his eyes. "Relax, Commander, open—"

"Open my mind, embrace eternity; I know the drill," Shepard said. He rolled his neck to pop it and met the asari's startled blue gaze with his own. "Just do it."

Lelyna's eyes blanked to black, and suddenly Shepard was in a cheery yellow room, a hanar floating beside him.

_"You don't have to wait with me, Dances on the Wildest Waves," Shepard said, though it was Thane's gentle burr that rumbled from his mouth. "Irikah assured me that all is proceeding as it should."_

_The hanar's pink body quivered with amusement. "It would be dishonorable for the offspring of Thane Krios to be greeted with silence. I am honored to greet the young one with the Song of the Morning."_

_Shepard-Thane nodded, seeing that he wouldn't change the hanar's mind, and resumed his prayers. _

_A sudden pained shout from further inside the house made him jump to his feet. Silence returned for several minutes, aside from the thudding of his heart. Dances on the Wildest Waves trilled a calming song, but Thane barely heard it as footsteps approached the door to the sunroom where he and the hanar had been waiting._

_A sea-foam green drell with a pale white stripe running from her crest and hiding beneath her clothes, stood at the door, smiling._

_"Sere Krios, your wife and son are ready to greet you now."_

_Shepard-Thane felt his hands tremble, and he clasped them behind his back. A son? "Arashu has blessed me with a child this day," he mouthed the traditional words calmly, but inside he wanted to join Dances's sweet voice in a song of celebration. Swift steps carried him over the threshold, deeper into their home. _

_Irikah was standing with her back to him, facing the large window that overlooked the Encompassing. Shepard-Thane's breath caught in his throat at her beauty against the light of the setting sun. The glowing yellows, golds, and reds set an iridescent fire to her bluish-green scales and the darker stripes that flowed from her head down her back and curving over the rounded swell of her hips. _

_Her arms were cradled around a small bundle. He stopped halfway across the room, suddenly fearful, but Irikah turned, her brilliant eyes laughing at him and pressed the swaddled infant into his arms._

_"Mind his head, my love," she said, brushing her fingers over his crests._

_Shepard-Thane adjusted his grip on the baby, mouth dry. When his son gazed back at him through gummy, bleary eyes as black as his own, he felt a surge of an emotion so powerful it was as if Arashu herself had passed through the room. He had thought when he first met Irikah that he had woken up—but perhaps that had only been one eye. Little Kolyat yawned, revealing small, perfect teeth—and Thane knew that now, both of his eyes were open._

_"Will young Kolyat be a servant of the Compact?" The polite voice of Dances on the Wildest Waves intruded into the moment like a sour note in the middle of a song. Irikah's hands stilled from where she had been stroking the baby's soft, unformed crests. Shepard-Thane could read distress in the flicker of her inner eyelids and turned to the hanar._

_"No," he said, a little more firmly than he intended and cleared his throat. "As you are aware, my friend, a first child is the keeper of memory for a drell family."_

_"Ah." Dances on the Wildest Waves quivered. "So I will have the pleasure of your second offspring for an apprentice? I am pleased."_

_Irikah's eyes flashed with familiar fire, but Shepard-Thane laid a calming hand on hers. This was neither the time nor the place to get involved in the intricate, polite dance of refusal and submission. Now was a time for them, for Kolyat._

Shepard emerged from the memory like breaking through the surface of water, his arms still cradled around an invisible drell baby. He blinked, the images receding slowly from his mind, and was surprised to feel tears tracing down his cheeks. Glancing up, he saw Kolyat still standing, gazing at the ocean, and for a moment, Shepard knew with a gut-wrenching certainty that if it meant his life to protect this young man, he would do it without hesitation. It was a frightening, thrilling thought—foreign and yet strangely familiar.

_Is this how it feels to be a father?_

"Commander? Are you okay?" Asaera knelt to his level, her gold-scaled hands warm on his arm.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," he said past the lump in his throat.

"What did you see?" Asaera's expression seemed too intense—_bluish green scales glimmering with iridescent fire_—and Shepard looked away, masking his discomfort by standing to his feet.

Lelyna frowned at her drell colleague. "Asaera, you know that's confidential. Thane authorized me to give it to Shepard only."

Asaera looked discomfited for a moment. "I… I didn't mean to pry…"

Shepard shook his head. "No offense, but I think I'll keep it to myself. It was a little… personal." He glanced over at Kolyat. "Excuse me, I need to be somewhere else."

Asaera and Lelyna watched as the human walked over to the young drell, said something and hesitantly put his arm around Kolyat's shoulders. After a moment, the two walked back up the pier.

Lelyna smiled. "At least something good has come of this sad day."

Asaera said nothing, watching the human and the drell leave with unblinking eyes.

* * *

_Author's note: A parody version of this chapter might include a song and snazzy dance number in Koen's memory: When you're a Red you're a Red all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dyin' daaaay!_

_I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist.__  
_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Becoming Shepard's lover had many advantages, Miranda mused, stripping off her body suit and undergarments and throwing them into the small clothes cleaner in the bathroom. But surely at the top of that list was that she no longer had to share a shower with the other crew members of the _Normandy_. She pressed a button and the shower in Shepard's personal bathroom hissed on, instantly hot water soaking her skin.

Of course, Miranda had more privacy even in the shared crew showers by virtue of being Shepard's second-in-command. All she had to do was tell EDI to lock the bathroom door and it was done—however, that didn't stop annoyances like Jack banging on the door and shouting obscenities until she was done.

Miranda rinsed the last of the soap suds from her hair and quickly dried off with a towel. The clothes cleaner wasn't finished, so she grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from Shepard's drawers.

She was combing out the tangles in her hair when the door to the captain's cabin hissed open and Shepard walked through, face pensive. He brightened when he saw her.

"Hey," he said, coming over and pulling her up in a hug.

Surprised but pleased, Miranda reciprocated, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her fingers playing with the hair on the back of his neck.

"Mmm, you smell like the sea," she said.

"And you smell like my shampoo. If I'd have known you were going to take a shower, I'd have come back sooner." Shepard pulled away, grinning.

Miranda laughed, giving him a quick kiss. "My clothes are in the cleaner so I had to wear some of yours. Hope you don't mind." She tugged on the waistband of the shorts. "Though the shorts keep threatening to come off."

"All the better." Shepard leaned in for another kiss, then held her against him again with a sigh.

"Are you okay?" Miranda asked, muffled against his shoulder. Shepard wasn't the type to be overly demonstrative—neither of them were.

"Yeah, just…" He shook his head. "Thane left a memory for me in an asari social worker at the hospital. It's… still kind of lingering." Shepard cupped her face with his hand, eyes serious. "Would you stay with me tonight?"

"Of course." She made a move to take off her borrowed shirt, but his hands stilled her.

"Not sex. Not right now," he said, eyes falling away from her, as if embarrassed. "I just… I just don't want to be alone right now."

Miranda's eyes caught on a thin cut on his hand. "You're bleeding."

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Scraped my hand getting back into the shuttle." Shepard moved to sit down on the couch, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Do you have any medi-gel?"

"There's a small first-aid kit in one of the desk drawers."

Miranda opened a drawer only to be greeted with not the first-aid kit, but a picture of a dark-haired woman with a mischievous grin tugging at her mouth. The former Cerberus agent had never met Ashley Williams, but she knew enough about her—after all, she'd spent the previous two years learning everything there was to know about Koen Shepard, and that included the people he interacted with the most.

"What's taking you so—oh." Shepard came around the corner and saw Miranda standing at the desk drawer, holding the holo of Ashley.

"First-aid kit's down here," Shepard said, leaning around her to open the bottom drawer.

"Is this out on the desk when I'm not here?" Miranda waved the holo a little.

"What?"

"A photo sat openly on the desk indicates the subject is constantly in the other's thoughts. In the drawer means something else entirely—you're hiding from her or hiding her from someone else. Which is it?" Her voice had slipped into that professional tone she once used with him, the one that reminded him that she used to be the Illusive Man's most trusted operative.

"Neither," Shepard said with a slight frown. "Ash… was a good friend. I miss her sometimes. That's all. I don't have her on my desk because it… well, because it felt weird now that you and I are… together."

Miranda's grip on the holo tightened. "Do you love her?"

"What?" Shepard took a step back in surprise.

Miranda folded her arms across the borrowed t-shirt she wore. "It's a simple question: do you love Ashley Williams?"

"It's hard to love a corpse, Miranda," Shepard said, his words clipped.

"Semantics," she snapped. "Answer the question."

Shepard paused. "Yes, I loved her."

Miranda stared at him, then away, shaking her head. The Illusive Man had warned her, and she had warned herself: emotional entanglements are dangerous. Niket had proved that if anyone else had. Let someone in under your guard and they only have a closer reach to stab the knife in your back. She shouldn't be jealous of a dead woman, but everything about this screamed one thing: if Ashley Williams was alive, Shepard wouldn't even be looking at Miranda Lawson.

"Miranda—"

"Not now, Commander." The old, familiar mask was in place. It was harder with him in front of her, with his scent on the clothes she wore, but she willed her expression into place. "I… I have some things I need to take care of."

She pulled her clothes from the cleaner—finally finished—and stepped into the bathroom to change. It felt wrong, now, to have such easy intimacy with him. Shepard was sitting on the edge of his bed when she emerged, elbows on his knees. He was watching her, a disbelieving look in his eyes.

Miranda hesitated, seeing the distress in the hunch of his shoulders, but she remembered just in time that she was little more than a pleasant diversion for him—a warm body to fill the hole where Ashley Williams once resided.

She had been used too many times: first by her father, then by the Illusive Man, and now this man. No, she would not let it happen again.

Miranda placed the borrowed clothes on the desk beside the discarded picture of Ashley Williams and left the cabin.

* * *

_Ten-year-old Koen burst through the door of the community center, breathing hard, and slammed the door shut behind him. A small cut on his face bled salty blood into his mouth and his cheek ached where that older boy from the Knives had walloped him a good one. _

_"You chose a good place, kid."_

_Koen almost jumped out of his skin as an old black man shambled out from what looked like a small kitchen area near the back of the room. He seemed unfazed by the pocket knife Koen brought to bear, sipping at something in a mug he held in one hand._

_"The church is neutral territory."_

_"So?" Koen's voice rang across the space between them. He couldn't help but notice the smells coming from the kitchen now—coffee, toast, eggs. His stomach growled._

_The old man smiled. "Tenth Street Reds, right?"_

_Koen gaped at him and then narrowed his eyes. "How'd you know I was a Red?"_

_"The red paint in your hair kinda gives it away."_

_Koen put his hand up to his short-cropped hair and looked at it. Drying red paint streaked his palm. "Stupid Digg," he muttered. "I knew he was doing something. They wouldn't tell me what." He rubbed again at his head, but the paint was too wet and smeared on his hair even more. Being a "scrub"—a new initiate to the gang—was the worst. Digg said it wouldn't be bad, but before he knew what was happening, the older boys, with hard eyes and scarred hands had blindfolded him and slapped that paint on his head. Next thing he knew was the retreating laugher of the full members of the Tenth Street Reds and when the blindfold came off he was alone, and in enemy territory: the Blood Knives. If he could get out alive—he was a full member. If not, well, the weak didn't deserve to be a member anyway. _

_The old man interrupted his bitter thoughts and limped over to a table. "You hungry, kid? I just made myself some breakfast, but there's plenty here for both of us. By the way, my name's Josiah. Josiah Shepard."_

"Commander Shepard?"

Shepard's eyes opened unwillingly.

"We gotta work on your timing, EDI," he grumbled. Shepard glanced at the clock. It was only little more than an hour after he'd fallen asleep and that had been hard enough after Miranda left the cabin. What was she getting at bringing Ash up out of the blue?

"I apologize for waking you, Commander," EDI said, intruding into his thoughts, "but Kolyat Krios is… distraught."

Shepard froze. "What do you mean?"

"He is attempting to destroy sensitive equipment in Life Support." EDI's calm modulated voice seemed to carry a bit of a pique.

Shepard pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and, barefoot, walked out of the cabin and into the elevator. When he reached the crew deck, a muffled banging sound was indeed coming from the Life Support room. Jack was also standing in front of the door, fingering her shotgun.

She turned as the elevator opened. "Good thing you're here, Shepard. I was about to test whether the kid has his old man's reflexes," she growled. "I can hear him all the way down in Engineering."

"Go back to bed, Jack, I'll make him settle down." Shepard yawned.

Jack gave the Life Support door another scowl and a colorful expletive, and shoved past Shepard for the elevator.

Shepard stood at the door a moment, hearing the banging, and wondered if Kolyat had worked through whatever was eating him. Through the door he could hear a muffled voice—was he talking to someone? Palming the console, Shepard stepped through into a scene of destruction. The cot was flipped over, frame dented; the table was shoved against the rear wall and the chair was lying on its side just in front of the door. He stepped over it, noticing a faint alarm going off on the controls to his right—one of the oxygen producing environmental canisters was punctured.

Kolyat was huddled against the wall just ahead of Shepard, mumbling to himself—no, Shepard amended, seeing his too-wide eyes, he was trapped in a memory.

"I watch the door all evening, but still he doesn't return. I ask Mother why isn't Father home yet, and she lies to me, says he's on important business; says he'll be back soon. But there are tears in her eyes, and I don't know why he would make her cry. Why is he always gone?"

Shepard's irritation at the destruction faded. "Kolyat?"

The young drell's secondary eyelids nictitated, but he didn't look up at him. "What do you want?" he muttered, glowering at the floor.

"If you need a place to let off some steam, Jacob and Garrus set up some punching bags in the cargo hold. There's no need for this unnecessary violence toward my ship."

"Leave me alone."

Shepard frowned and went to stand over the recumbent drell. "I'm not going to leave you alone, because you're going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you."

_"What the hell is wrong with you?"_

_Koen stared up at his "father," resentment growing within. He wiped the smear of blood off his lip, ignoring the usual smell of alcohol in the other man's breath._

_"Answer me when I'm talking to you!"_

Koen snapped out of the memory, shaken. Large dark eyes glared up at him. "I don't have you tell you anything," Kolyat spat. "You're not my 'commanding officer' and you're _not_ my father."

Shepard scowled. "Fine! Wallow down here for all I care—but you _will_ clean up this mess, and then you're going to tell Rupert—in the morning—what you broke so he can fix it. And you're going to help him."

Silence was his only reply. Shepard bit back his frustration and turned his attention to the more immediate concern of the punctured canister.

"EDI, is this thing going to be okay until the day shift?"

"No, Commander," EDI replied from the speaker above his head. "The canister must be isolated to prevent contamination. Also, oxygen production may go down. Mess Sergeant Gardner has the technical knowledge to patch it for the time being though I will need to do a more thorough diagnostic to determine the extent of the damage."

"So much for waiting until morning," Shepard grumbled. He turned to Kolyat and jerked a thumb at the door. "You heard the lady. Go to crew quarters and wake Rupert and tell him to come fix this."

Kolyat looked frightened. "But Rupert hates me! Ever since I told him his Kahje baklava tastes like dirty toenails, he's had it in for me!"

"Your problem; not mine." Shepard stood, arms folded across his chest, wondering if he would have cut a more authoritative figure if he'd opted for his fatigues instead of a t-shirt.

Kolyat muttered a drellish curse that his translator didn't know what to do with and pushed past him. He had just palmed the door when klaxons began ringing through the ship. Kolyat jerked around to look at Shepard, eyes wide.

"I didn't do it!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"EDI, what's going on?" Shepard pushed past Kolyat into the corridor as sleepy crew members stumbled from their quarters half-dressed, heading toward their stations.

"I apologize, Commander," EDI's voice sounded a bit ruffled. The blaring alarms silenced. "There was a hacking attempt aimed at several processing locations."

Shepard frowned. "Hacking? Are you compromised?"

"No, Commander, I have successfully blocked the intruder."

"Then what were the klaxons for?"

EDI didn't answer right away. "I… have malfunctioned." She sounded confused.

"EDI, run a self-diagnostic, now." Shepard's stomach clenched, and he walked around the elevator shaft toward the medical bay, ignoring some of the questions aimed at his back by the crew still milling about.

Legion was on when he palmed the release to the AI core, its optical lens whirring as it focused on him.

"Legion, are the geth trying to hack the _Normandy_?"

Legion had agreed to stay with Shepard as a liaison of sorts, though most of the work was done silently as Legion communicated via FTL speed with geth in other parts of the galaxy. A human or even an alien would have been offended at the question—thinking that Shepard doubted their loyalty, but to Legion it was a logical conclusion based on his species' interaction with the geth heretics.

"Negative, Shepard-Commander," the geth said, cocking its tubular head. "There has been no need after our agreement to share data."

"I didn't think so," Shepard said, rubbing his face. "EDI just blocked a hacking attempt and there appears to have been a strange side-effect. Or maybe one of the attack sites worked, I don't know. All I do know is that it would take a really good hacker to give EDI pause."

"There are four probable instigators of the attack," Legion said, face plates lifting. "Previously, EDI was hacked by the Collectors, but as they are no longer a threat, that conclusion is illogical. The Creator-quarians would have the technical proficiency needed to attack a sophisticated intelligence such as EDI. The salarian Special Tasks Group has also been known to make extensive use of hacking as a means of gathering information. The hanar—"

"The hanar?" Shepard interrupted. "Seriously?"

"The hanar are not physically adept on most land-based worlds," Legion continued. "It is logical to assume they would cultivate other means of gaining an advantage for their species."

"Thanks." Shepard left the AI Core deep in thought. The hanar he dismissed—his interaction with that species had been limited, even when taking his recent trips to Kahje into account. They had no reason to target his ship. But the quarians and STG?

He supposed he'd better schedule a little chat with Tali and Mordin.

* * *

"You've been what?" Shepard stared at Mordin who was fiddling with a centrifuge.

"Feeding the STG information. Apologies. Thought you knew." Mordin blinked his bulbous eyes at Shepard, leaning over console to tap something into his keyboard. As usual, the professor was doing six other things while he held a conversation.

"How could I know that you're an STG spy?" Shepard said, leaning over the table, brow furrowed. "You told me you retired."

"Am retired. Did not lie. Also, not a spy." Mordin sniffed, looking slightly offended at the term. "STG was bound to send inquiries. Keeps tabs on former agents. Knew I was on Omega; knew I signed up with you. Fed STG information to prevent attack like the one you describe. I keep quiet, STG gets suspicious; send agent, or attempt to bribe, blackmail, or extort information another way. Cerberus crew good; handpicked; little information to work with; hard to blackmail. But everyone has a breaking point. Feeding information safest; cleanest. No classified information sent; minor notes of who, what, and when. Nothing to endanger mission or crew."

Shepard relaxed. "So you're absolutely sure STG couldn't be behind the attack?"

The centrifuge chimed. Mordin popped the hatch, beginning the delicate task of transferring some glass tubes to a wire rack. "Nothing is certain; only probable. STG interest in you and mission has lessened with Collector threat gone. Some interest in rumor of Reapers, but nothing more than 'keeping an ear to the ground' as humans say. No reason for invasive attack."

Shepard left the tech lab and almost ran into Kolyat in the CIC.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, startled.

"Nothing." Kolyat said, not looking at Shepard, his gaze wandering around the CIC with no interest.

"Aren't you helping Rupert fix the damage you caused in Life Support?"

Kolyat scowled at the metal floor. "I tried, but he said I was in the way."

"Well, don't bother the crew while you're up here. They're busy." Shepard walked over to his personal terminal. Kolyat followed.

"I'm not bothering anyone," he protested. "Joker said I could watch him."

"Then why aren't you on the bridge?" Shepard frowned at his screen. Another spam mail. He deleted it—the most advanced ship in the galaxy and he was still manually deleting trash like this? Figured.

Kolyat looked uncomfortable. "I got bored," he said, a nervous hum in his throat. "When are we going to get to the Citadel?" he said, changing the topic.

Shepard looked up from his screen. "I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" He grimaced. "That hack attack drove it from my mind. We're making a stop at Omega to pick up an asari justicar that used to be on my squad."

"Why?"

"That's classified, kiddo." Shepard opened another email. Kaidan had written to tell him that Anderson was not pleased with him needing a couple of weeks to get things in order and advised not making Councilor Tevos wait. Terrific.

"I'm not a kid," Kolyat grumbled.

"Well you're sure not acting like an adult," Shepard said, irritation from the email bleeding over.

"What the hell do you care?" Kolyat snapped, loud enough that a few heads turned in their direction. "You'll drop me off to Captain Bailey and never have to see me again." He turned and entered the elevator, his blue-green face a mask of hurt anger.

Shepard blew out a breath. He could have handled that better.

"Commander?" Kelly's green eyes peeped at him from across the galaxy map.

"Yeah?" Shepard stabbed the "delete" button a little harder than necessary on a couple other spam mails.

"I haven't had a chance to talk with Kolyat one on one, but I'm afraid that he may be suffering from abandonment issues."

Shepard looked up at her, curious. "Abandonment?"

"It's not surprising considering his history with his father, and given that his perfect memories will always remind him of the times his father was absent, it may be severe. In time, his issues might have been solved with his father present. But now that Thane has died..."

He crossed his arms. "What are we talking about here?"

Kelly clasped her hands in front of her. "Alienation from his environment, withdrawal from social activities, uncertainty, sleep disruption, nightmares, and resulting fatigue; depression, anger, grief—"

"Okay, I get the idea." Shepard raised a hand in the middle of the flow of words. "What do you suggest? Should I get him to talk to a therapist once we get to the Citadel?"

"It might help," Kelly conceded, "but now that you're his primary caregiver, you'll probably have to prove that you won't abandon him either."

Shepard grimaced. "I don't know, Kelly. Maybe I shouldn't be the one to… to take Thane's place. I'm not a father—I didn't exactly have a stellar model for a dad; I don't know the first thing about kids, let alone alien kids."

Kelly reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. "Shepard, I've never been a father, and probably never will be—unless I hook up with an asari I guess," she amended with one of her wide-eyed serious looks that made him want to grin, "but I know you and I can tell that you'll be a great father." She withdrew her hand. "Perhaps it might help to _not_ think of yourself as a father—you may be adding unnecessary mental stress to your task. Kolyat doesn't want you to replace Thane, but he does need someone to be there for him."

The elevator chimed behind him, and Tali stepped out. "You wanted to see me, Shepard?" Her purple helmet glinted in the bright light of the CIC.

"Thanks Kelly," Shepard said. "I'll… keep what you said in mind."

"Anytime, Commander!" the redhead chirruped.

Shepard turned and gestured for the quarian woman to follow him to the armory. "Thanks for coming up, Tali. Jacob's eating lunch, so the armory should give us a little privacy."

Tali stopped in her tracks and folded her arms across her chest. "This isn't about Kal'Reegar again, is it? Joker gave me a hard enough time as it is—"

Shepard laughed. "No, no. It's about the recent attempt to hack EDI."

"Oh."

"_Then_ I want to talk about Reegar—"

"Shepard, I'm warning you…"

* * *

"The fact that you're not brushing off my concerns is worrisome, Tali," Shepard said a few minutes later, leaning back against one of the tables in the armory.

Tali was disassembling a shotgun on the workbench, her three-fingered hands working with more dexterity than they appeared to have at first glance. "That's because a quarian hack-attempt isn't something to dismiss lightly, Shepard," her filtered voice sounded thoughtful. "Before you rescued me from Haestrom, I might have said 'no,' but after learning what Admiral Xen hopes to accomplish…" Tali shook her head. "I wouldn't put it past her to attempt something like this in an effort to glean more information about the geth. She may have even discovered Legion's existence."

Shepard frowned. "Have you been able to keep tabs on her while you're here?"

"Not as much as I'd like, but it's clear that Gerral and Koris are hoping that I'll take my father's place on the Admiralty Board. Politically, it's a good move for them, because by virtue of my name I represent a man everyone in the Flotilla admired. I am also seen as young and 'uncorrupted' by Flotilla politics. Perhaps they even think that I'll be malleable to their own political views and thus add my vote to their own maneuvers."

Shepard smirked. "They obviously don't know you very well."

Tali chuckled. "I didn't want the position at first… but now I don't know. The seat needs to be filled—even if only for appearances' sake. The average quarian doesn't like to see a hole in the workings of our government. If I had to, I could fill in while a suitable replacement was found—maybe even try to do some good while I'm there."

"Well, if you need an official endorsement from the man who defeated Saren—"

"'I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite quarian on the Flotilla'? No thanks."

Shepard laughed and stood up. "Well, if you can find out anything about Xen maybe hacking –"

"Commander Shepard?" EDI's voice rang through the armory.

"What is it?"

"I have completed my self-diagnostic and located the source of the hack. It was neither the STG, the geth, nor the quarians."

Shepard scowled at the ceiling. "Then who?"

"The hanar."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"There was a virus embedded in the vid-mail you received from Kahje, Commander. It was inert until the last day cycle." EDI's blue globe blinked at him in the cockpit.

"In other words, it was like the Reaper IFF all over again," Shepard said, scowling. He'd liked Asaera; respected her for being willing to perform a thankless task, for watching over Thane when Kolyat and Shepard couldn't be there. Had she been playing him the whole time? Why?

The answer was obvious: Cerberus. He'd been dodging Cerberus' attempts to bring him back to the fold ever since he destroyed the Collector base and told the Illusive Man who would be calling the shots from then on. "Timmy-boy" knew better than to try to kill him—Shepard was too much of an investment; too important to the fate of humanity—but that didn't stop him from various hack attempts, bribery, and other heavy-handed efforts. This was just the latest.

"The analogy is similar," EDI admitted, "though the signal in the Reaper IFF was far more sophisticated. This virus did not disable any of the _Normandy's_ primary systems."

"As far as I can tell, Commander, the virus was just to 'distract' EDI long enough to get a look at our systems and set off a few alarms while the virus poked around." Joker lifted his cap and scratched the crown of his head.

"So did they get what they came for?" Shepard looked at EDI's blue globe.

"They were able to retrieve some information before I blocked the attempt, but all of it was non-critical, non-sensitive data. I may have blocked them before they were able to siphon what they wanted."

"Okay." Shepard nodded. "But from now on, full firewalls and other defenses up when we link to a comm buoy or any other outside communications port. I also want you to scrub any incoming transmission that could contain something like this. It might be worth it to self-diagnose at least once a week too."

"Doing so will create a lag in our communications operations, Commander."

"That's an order, EDI."

"Understood, Commander."

"I told you not to talk back to Shepard," Joker muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"The Commander is still within auditory range, Jeff."

"He knows, EDI. That's part of the fun," Shepard said.

"I see," she said, though it was clear she didn't.

Shepard turned and walked back toward the main part of the CIC. He had half a mind to turn the _Normandy_ around and head back to Kahje so he could get some answers from the yellow drell personally, but he had a responsibility to keep Kolyat safe. Not to mention he still had to retrieve Samara from Omega—not exactly the best place to be wandering around with a young drell who didn't even know how to use a gun. Cerberus was after Shepard—not Kolyat. It wasn't right to keep him in the line of fire.

There was really only one place the kid might be safe. Shepard called back over his shoulder, "Joker, set a course for the Citadel."

"Uh, roger that, Commander. What about Samara?"

Shepard shook his head. "We'll have to make two trips. Anderson will understand."

_I hope._

* * *

Shepard palmed the bio-metric release on his door and it hissed open. Kolyat scratched at his neck, looking awkward. Shepard couldn't exactly blame him—their conversation over the last couple of days of FTL travel had been stilted and forcefully polite.

"This… this is your room?" The young drell sounded reluctantly impressed. "Hey, are those ships?" He took a few enthusiastic steps to the display case behind the desk.

"Yep. Couldn't help myself when I found the model for the SR1 _Normandy_," Shepard chuckled. "Then it just seemed lonely in there by itself, so I had to get others." He pointed to the glass case release button. "Go ahead and open it up if you want."

Kolyat did so, taking special care as he removed the model of a turian cruiser from its display knobs.

"Kolyat, I know that I haven't been really good at this... but I hope you know that any time you need to talk, you can come find me, day or night." Shepard eyed the young drell, but his expression was unreadable as he turned the model ship around in his hands.

"What if…" Kolyat began, not looking at him, "what if there's someone… here?"

Shepard blinked. "Someone…?"

"You know… someone else. With you. Here." The folds of Kolyat's leathery neck seemed to bloom a deeper red. Shepard almost laughed out loud. So he and Miranda hadn't been as secretive as they thought.

"Well, it shouldn't be a problem." Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, thinking of how Miranda was avoiding him at the moment. "Just tell EDI you'd like to speak with me, and she'll wake me up and, uh…. give me fair warning."

Kolyat nodded, his fingers teasing the extendable gun turrets on the model ship. "Are you sure I can't go with you to Omega?"

"Yeah. It's a dangerous place," Shepard said, leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed. "Plus, if someone tries to infiltrate the _Normandy_ again, I don't want you in harm's way."

"I can take care of myself," Kolyat muttered, though without heat.

Shepard put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Kolyat, if something happened to you..." He shook his head. "I don't know if drell believe in ghosts, but I'm pretty sure your father would come back to kill me if I led you into harm's way. Everyone on this ship is trained in combat—you're not. We've been boarded before by enemies and it could happen again. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Then I want to be trained." Kolyat's eyes came up to meet Shepard's. They were calm; determined—Shepard didn't see any bloodlust or childish eagerness in the young drell's gaze. He nodded slowly.

"Alright. When I can squeeze in some time, and get you the proper paperwork from Bailey, we'll get you sidearm certified."

Kolyat's inner eyelids nictitated. "Really? I mean—yeah, great!"

Shepard held his gaze. "You will also have sessions with Kelly—or another therapist if you're on the Citadel."

"What? I don't need to see a shrink!" the young drell protested.

Shepard shook his head. "Kolyat, you've been hit with a lot these past few months: your father coming back into your life, trying to undo ten years of neglect; your attempt to harm that turian politician, and then your father's death."

Kolyat looked away.

Shepard stepped forward and gripped the drell's shoulder forcing him to look up at him. "There's no shame in seeking help when you're having problems. I've been talking to Kelly almost every week ever since I woke up."

"Really?" Kolyat looked doubtful. "But you always seem so… put together."

Shepard shook his head. "I'm the commanding officer of this ship—it's part of the job. Mostly, it's part acting and partly because Kelly helps me sort out the jumble of baggage I carry around." He sat back, leaning against his desk as he rubbed his brow.

"I grew up on Earth – the human homeworld. I never knew my mother and my father—my biological father. The man whose house I lived in said he was my step-father. He…" A muscle twitched in Shepard's jaw. "He was a drunk. I learned early to avoid the apartment after he came home from work, because sure as clockwork, he'd hit the booze. Sometimes it just made him sleepy; sometimes it made him mean." Shepard shook his head. "I was ten years old when I decided I'd had enough—I joined a gang to learn how to hit back."

"You were… like me then," Kolyat said, looking at him, eyebrow ridges pulled together. "Before you and dad found me."

Shepard nodded, surprised but seeing the analogy. "And just like Thane saved you from becoming a murderer, someone saved me from myself as well. It was because of his influence that I left the streets and joined the Alliance. He saved my life." He eyed the drell, a little embarrassed at how much he was revealing. "If I've been… distant, it's because of that—because of my step-father. I've always hated my temper—it was too much like _his_. I think that if I lose control, it's like _he's_ winning."

Kolyat touched his cheek fringe. "So… that time when you came with dad to stop me… when you hit me? That was…?"

"No!" Shepard said sharply, then took a deep breath, calming down. "No, I have _never_ hit a civilian out of anger. To be honest, when I hit you, I was just hoping to distract C-Sec; I thought they would shoot you before Thane had a chance to talk you down." Shepard shook his head. "Angry? Not at all. I was scared out of my mind." He glanced up, rueful. "Sorry about that, by the way."

Kolyat shrugged, fiddling again with the model ship. "It didn't hurt that bad—mostly just startled me."

"Well, you got your revenge anyway," Shepard chuckled, pointing to the skin on his knuckles. "Turns out drell skin against human skin isn't exactly a nice match—I got a very itchy rash on my hand. Wouldn't go away for days. Mordin was thrilled; chattered on and on about 'interspecies' interactions and the unexpected things that happened."

Kolyat laughed and Shepard felt a jolt when he realized it was the first time he'd heard such a happy sound coming from the young drell.

"You hungry?" Shepard glanced at the clock on his desk. "Rupert told me he's making lasagna."

Kolyat's brow crinkled. "I don't know what that is…"

"Guess you'll just have to find out then." Shepard chuckled.

Kolyat made a chuffing noise deep in his throat. "You know, you're not as cool as people think you are."

Shepard looked sidelong at him, but there was an amused lift to Kolyat's segmented mouth, so he grinned. "Laugh it up, Kolyat."

* * *

Despite Kolyat's verbal acceptance at being dropped off at the Citadel, when the _Normandy_ actually arrived, he was back to his brooding silence and curt, monosyllabic replies to questions.

Shepard walked him out of the _Normandy_, nodding to the C-Sec officer—a human woman—who'd come to escort him back.

"Hey, Kolyat," she said with a kind smile. "Welcome home. Captain Bailey will be glad to see you; his datapad froze up again this morning and he won't let the techs near it. Says only you're allowed to touch it."

Kolyat glowered at the floor, not responding, and Shepard caught the officer's eye with a shrug. "Thank you, Officer."

"Not a problem, sir."

Shepard thought about leaving right then, but Kolyat's apartment likely needed fresh groceries after being empty for so long. He joined the officer and Kolyat in the quick cab from the docking bay to the C-Sec offices on Zakera Ward.

"Kolyat," Shepard said, as the young drell slipped the garish "volunteer" vest on over his clothes, "I'll be back before you know it, okay? And when this thing is over—I'll see about staying on the Citadel until your community service is over. How does that sound?"

Kolyat looked at him, then away. "Don't you have a galaxy to save?" He walked away, leaving Shepard staring after him.

* * *

_If you like Kolyat stories, you should also go read ghost.713's Kolyat story "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained." It's pretty fantastic._


	8. Chapter 8

_Gratuitous Lost reference FTW! Virtual fish biscuits to those that spot it.  
_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"You seem distracted."

Shepard looked up from the couch in the Starboard Observation deck as the door hissed open to admit Miranda. After Samara had left, the observation deck had been unofficially converted into the "movie room." Shepard had been trying to watch an old comedy vid, but realized that he'd missed most of what was being said.

Miranda walked further into the room. Shepard sat up, eyeing her cautiously. They hadn't talked since the day she found Ashley's holo in his desk—he'd been busy and she had been avoiding him.

"Yeah, I am." Shepard said after a moment. "I keep... I keep thinking about Kolyat. When we left the Citadel, I felt like I was abandoning him again."

"Are you?" He looked up at her, expecting a sneering expression, but her face was clear of any mockery.

"No, but..." Shepard frowned at the empty air. "A warship isn't a place for a… young civilian. We're doing fine so far—but if this meeting with the Council and Samara works, Citadel space will finally mobilize for the Reapers and that means we're all going to be busy. Even if it doesn't, the Reapers are still coming, Cerberus will try again to get us back, or it'll be something else. There's always something else." His frustrated expression relaxed, becoming a little sad. "Kolyat deserves to have some normalcy. He should be in school, flirting with girls; figuring out what he wants to do with his life. But I don't know how to give it to him without breaking my promise."

Miranda took another step forward and, hesitating, sat down on the edge of the couch. "I once promised myself that I would never get involved in Oriana's life. I would see to it from afar that she was safe and taken care of, but that was it." The strong lines of her face softened with a smile. "Then you came along and convinced me that letting her know that I cared about her wasn't a necessarily a bad thing. Now we actually talk and I wouldn't give it up for anything." Her hands clasped together in her lap. "You'll find a way."

"I hope so."

Silence descended. The characters on the screen traded quips, but neither Miranda nor Shepard laughed.

"Koen—" Miranda started, biting her bottom lip. "I owe you an apology. I… I was blindly jealous… I said some things that I shouldn't have. I didn't want things to end so badly between us. I hope we can still be friends?"

Shepard leaned forward, capturing Miranda's hands between his own. She made as if to move away, but he held on tighter.

"Miranda, Ashley and I never kissed—we barely touched, if you can count passing the salt over the mess table touching. Maybe we might have had something if not for Virmire, but I'll never know that." He paused, trying to weigh her reaction to his words. "I'm not going to waste my life regretting what might have been when I have you, here, now."

"Koen…"

"You aren't a replacement for Ashley, Miranda, because you're _you_, and you are who I want."

She looked up at him, tears sparkling on her eyelashes. Sniffing, she brushed them away, and squeezed his hands. "Maybe… maybe we moved things too fast before. We were both in over our heads before we knew what was happening. Perhaps we can… start over?"

Shepard grinned. "Sounds good to me."

Miranda scooted closer to him on the couch, gesturing to the screen. "Can you rewind that last part? I want to watch from the beginning."

Shepard looped an arm around her shoulder, feeling her warmth as she tucked herself in next to his body, and settled down to enjoy the show.

* * *

Omega smelled the same as it had the last time Shepard arrived at the station. Same rotted garbage mixed with urine and the sweat of different species—the smell of the streets. Shepard shrugged his shoulders, as if to roll off the old memories that clamored in his mind, begging for attention, and strode through the docking bay.

"An asari justicar shouldn't be too hard to find," Garrus observed as they approached the doors to the main area of the station. "I imagine she's made quite a few enemies."

"Probably," Shepard agreed. "With any luck, however, we won't have to rescue her."

Garrus' mandibles flared in amusement. "Unlikely. She's not dumb enough to get herself cornered by three different merc groups."

They needn't have worried. Almost as soon as Garrus and Shepard left the grimy docking bay, they heard people on the streets whispering of her:

"... whole nest of vorcha—gone! She just plowed through them like a quarian at a used shipyard!"

"... public challenge to the Blood Pack. Is she crazy?"

"Aria's not too happy..."

Garrus chuckled. "Guess we just follow the carnage."

Shepard's lips quirked. "Sounds like we unleashed a bit of a troublemaker."

They found the "troublemaker" in the slums near Mordin's old clinic. Various passersby had told them they'd heard rumors of a beautiful asari traveling through the area, dispatching stray vorcha and any Blood Pack merc that got in her way.

Garrus and Shepard caught up with her at the clinic itself. She stood just inside, speaking with Daniel—Mordin's assistant left in charge of the clinic.

"Samara."

The justicar turned, blinking her large blue eyes at the sight of them, but otherwise did not seem surprised.

"Shepard, Officer Vakarian—it is a pleasure to see you again."

"I hear you're cleaning house around here," Shepard said with a grin.

Samara inclined her head. "The Blood Pack was severely weakened by your recent trip through here. I thought it a good place to start, though eventually I will work my way to the festering heart of corruption in this foul place. Aria T'Loak has much to answer for."

"Samara, I didn't just come here to check up on you," Shepard said, sobering. "I need your help. The Citadel Council has learned of your assistance on my mission to destroy the Collector base. If you will be present as a witness in your capacity as a justicar, Councilor Tevos has agreed to join our minds to ascertain the truth of the Reaper threat."

Shepard held his breath, wondering if the justicar's strict adherence to her code would allow her to leave such blatant criminality as there existed on Omega.

Samara's serene face broke into a smile. "Technically, you never released me from my oath to aid you, Shepard. I believe that was the condition of my service, yes?"

Shepard nodded, relieved. "Thank you. Hopefully it won't take long and you can come back to finish your clean up."

"What, no fighting? No hurricane of bullets? No shooting our way out?" Garrus said, shaking his head. "Shepard, you're getting soft."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking Garrus, and I'll start shooting in the region of your head."

"That's more like it."

* * *

"I'm glad you're here, Shepard." Kaidan stepped forward to shake his hand as Shepard and Samara walked out of the airlock on the Citadel. "Anderson and Udina had kittens when they found out you were here a few days ago and didn't come around."

Shepard shook his head. "Long story. Sorry I'm late. Kaidan, this is Justicar Samara. Samara, this is Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko."

"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am," Kaidan said politely, inclining his head. "Shepard has spoken highly of you."

Samara gazed at him a moment, measuring his worth. Kaidan, to his credit, didn't shift under the pressure of her stare.

"A pleasure, Commander," she finally said. "I am pleased that my presence will further the cause to fight the Reapers."

Kaidan had a cab waiting. Shepard ducked down to get inside when he heard his name. Turning, he saw Captain Bailey trot toward him, a scowl on his face.

"Shepard?" Kaidan leaned over from his seat, eyebrows raised.

"Just a minute." Shepard nodded at Bailey as he came up. "Bailey, I just got to the Citadel—"

"I know, that's why I'm here," huffed Bailey, breathing a little hard. "Kolyat's in trouble."

"What?"

Bailey scowled. "Shepard, I've stuck my neck out for this kid, but if he doesn't shape up—"

"Give him a break, Bailey," Shepard interjected, frowning. "The kid's father just died."

Bailey's eyes narrowed. "Whaddya mean? He looked plenty healthy last time I saw him."

"He's been sick for a long time, even before I met him. It finally caught up with him."

Bailey sighed and ran a hand over his grizzled face. "And I just had to give the kid a piece of my mind…. Ah, hell."

Shepard shook his head. "I should have told you when I dropped him off. So what happened anyway?"

"Kolyat and Mouse got into a scrap in front of the ramen stand. Some customers' bowls were knocked to the ground in the scuffle. Disorderly conduct is the most I can charge them with, but I'd rather not." Bailey rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, Shepard, I'm willing to cut the kid some slack and let him stay on if he's got no other family to take him in. He's a good kid at heart—some real talent with the tech stuff. I'd hate for him to be abandoned somewhere in this galaxy."

"He won't be," Shepard said, crossing his arms. "He has me. I promised his father I would look after him."

Bailey looked relieved. "Good to know. I guess you'll be wanting to talk to the little miscreants, eh?"

"Yeah." Shepard looked back into the cab where Kaidan was starting to look impatient. "Kaidan, I'll meet you at the embassy. This won't take long."

"Shepard, this is important—"

"I know, Kaidan, but so is this." He shut the cab door and stepped aside as it whirred into the air and soon got lost in the stream of traffic.

"Funny thing," Bailey said as he and Shepard approached the Customs desk. "I've seen more drell since I met you then in all the years I've been at C-Sec."

Shepard froze as something started to whir into place in his brain.

"Drell besides Kolyat and Thane?"

"Yeah," Bailey looked at him, eyebrow quirked. "Not even an hour ago, some yellow dame—at least I think it was a dame—Hey!"

Shepard set off running to the door. He was an idiot. It made sense now. Thane's memory: he'd said it was a "warning." Asaera everywhere he was on Kahje. The hacking attempt—she wasn't Cerberus—she wasn't even after Shepard; she was after Kolyat. Thane's memory... he'd nearly forgotten in the powerful emotions it evoked, but the hanar—Dances with Waves, or something—had been one of Thane's contract holders. He or she—it was hard to tell with hanar—had assumed that Kolyat would be given over to receive the same training that Thane himself had gone through. Asaera must be another assassin—or at least a servant bent on retrieving Kolyat for the hanar. They had not touched Kolyat while Thane still lived, but clearly once the drell had died, they considered his son fair game.

Shepard all but ran up to the turian guard at the security check point. "Open the door!"

The guard's mandibles pulsed, and he looked over Shepard's shoulder at Bailey coming up behind. "Uh, sir?"

"What's going on, Shepard?" Bailey growled.

"Someone's after Kolyat," Shepard grunted, running a hand through his hair. "I'm an idiot—I just realized..." He shook his head. It was too much to explain.

"Open 'er up, " Bailey ordered. The turian fiddled with his controls and the door opened... to a scene of complete calm. No one was shouting, officers sat quietly at their desks; everything seemed to be in order.

"Where are they?" Shepard turned to Bailey, voice taut. The C-Sec captain nodded at a human behind what looked like a monitoring desk to the left, in front of the door to the holding cells.

"Chang!" Bailey barked. The officer nearly fell off his chair, a magazine tumbling from his lap to the floor.

"Y-yes, sir!"

"The kids that Sawyer brought in from the fight—Mouse and the drell. They still in Room 2?"

"Yeah..." The officer's eyes scanned the monitors in front of him and his jaw dropped. "Oh shi—where'd he go?"

Shepard gripped the edge of the desk, Thane's gravelly voice ringing in his ears as if it was yesterday: _"You'd think Citadel Security would be the tightest in the galaxy. I see no fewer than fourteen fatal flaws a skilled assassin could exploit."_

Bailey shot the young officer a look that would have melted stone, and he and Shepard hurried into the interrogation rooms. Room 2 had a table and a couple of chairs. One chair had a pair of empty handcuffs. The other…

"Ow…" Mouse groaned as Shepard and Bailey grabbed his arms, helping him up from the floor. The side of his head was red and swelling.

"Mouse, you'd better start talking," Bailey said, a hard glint in his eyes, "or I might just remember that little incident with the red sand last month."

Mouse winced, going white around his mouth, and squeezed his eyes shut. "We were just sitting here—me an' the Krios kid," he said after a moment, brow furrowed with pain. "I heard someone jump down behind me; they put a muzzle to my head. Whoever it was told Krios to go with them and he did. Next thing I know, you show up." Mouse leaned over the table, looking ill. "I had nothin' to do with it, pops."

Shepard looked up. An air duct—too small for a grown human male, but accessible for a slim, wiry drell—was right over Mouse's chair. "Did you get a good look at whoever put the gun to your head?"

"No. Kept behind me, like I said, and I didn't dare move with that steel pressing against my skull."

Bailey followed Shepard's gaze and cursed. "I knew about that duct, but there's a fan about ten yards in—never thought it would be an issue."

"We heard the fan stop," Mouse offered, squinting against the light in the room. "We noticed cause it started gettin' hot. Smelled funny too, like a sweaty elcor."

"Bailey, do you have any idea where this duct leads out?"

Mouse answered again. "Yeah. Duct rats know to stay away from it, but we still know."

"Where?"

"The warehouse on Level 27." Mouse shuddered, looking like he might be sick on the table. "Lot of shady deals go on there. I ain't never been there—dangerous…"

"Chang," Bailey spoke into the comm, "get in here with the medic. Shepard and I have to go."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"I'll go around and flank 'em from the back," Bailey grunted as he and Shepard hurried through the ward. A turian C-Sec officer followed behind, grabbed from his desk by Bailey on their way out of the interrogation room.

"Sounds good." Shepard watched as Bailey and the turian headed off in a different direction, and slowed his steps as he approached the front entrance to the warehouse, wishing he had his armor. At least he had his sidearm. He palmed the door console.

At first, all he could see were crates and a Tupari vending machine. Then a flicker of movement on his left: Kolyat and Asaera were talking in low voices—and she didn't look armed. Shepard didn't let his guard down, but hopefully this could end without violence.

Keeping his arms away from his body, Shepard rounded the corner of the crates he'd hidden behind.

"Kolyat, what's going on?" Shepard kept his voice as friendly as he could make it, while still keeping his eyes on Asaera. Her dark eyes narrowed at the sight of him, but otherwise she did not move.

Kolyat blinked, shifting on his feet. "She… she says she's family. That's she's going to make sure I'm taken care of."

Shepard threw a glance at Kolyat. The young drell was rubbing his arms as if cold. Shepard turned his attention back to Asaera.

"Family, eh? Is that how you lure the kids in these days?"

She frowned, yellow eyebrow ridges coming closer together. "There is no 'luring.' Kolyat has been told exactly what we mean to do with him. He will be a tool for the greater good, as his father was."

"Thane had little choice in the matter," Shepard spat. "His parents gave him to the hanar when he was barely old enough to talk, let alone murder someone for money."

The look Asaera gave him was disdainful. "I will ask you to not dishonor Thane Krios' memory in the hearing of his son. He was honored to serve the Compact."

"Kolyat, you don't have to listen to her. Let's get out of here." Shepard jerked a thumb behind him, his pounding heart belaying the casual tone to his words.

"Kolyat, would you rather stay with this… _human_ who leaves you on this garbage heap of a space station every chance he gets? We're family, Kolyat. Family should look after its own." The female drell laid a slender hand on Kolyat's arm, a little trill to her words.

"I can't argue with blood," Shepard said in a quiet voice. "But you know me, Kolyat. You're as good as family in my books—I know I haven't replaced Thane, and I don't want to. But I do want to be there for you—to you let you choose your own path, have the kind of life your father wanted to give you. He didn't want you to end up like him, it was his greatest fear."

Kolyat's shoulders hunched and for a moment, no one spoke.

"What…" Kolyat's voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "What good is family if they only show up when they want something from you?" He looked at Asaera, his eyes cold. "Where were you in the ten years I spent separated from my father?"

Asaera's eyes widened in surprise.

Kolyat turned his back to her and walked over to Shepard. "Let's go," he muttered.

Shepard nodded, then everything seemed to move in slow motion. He'd had the experience a few times in battle, when adrenaline raced through his veins, making his enemies' movements seem slower; his own faster.

Over Kolyat's shoulder, he saw the yellow drell raise her hand, a slender stiletto blade in one elegant hand. Without thinking, Shepard pushed Kolyat to the side. Everything sped up again to normal time: Bailey and the other C-Sec officer were shouting at Asaera, guns aimed at her head; Kolyat was standing over him, mouthing words he couldn't hear.

"I'm fine," Shepard grunted, trying to sit up, wondering how he'd ended up on the floor. He glanced at Kolyat, but he didn't seem injured. "She didn't get you did she?"

Kolyat blinked. "She got _you_."

"Huh?" Shepard looked down at his arm; the slender blade Asaera had thrown at Kolyat was embedded in his arm. A thin trickle of blood was running down his skin.

"Don't pull it out—" Bailey said, running up to him on a floor that seemed to tilt sideways.

Shepard blinked, but the black spots dancing in his vision didn't go away.

Bailey brought up his omni-tool, his voice sounding very far away. "I need a medic and prisoner transport at the warehouse on 27—we have a code red…"

The last thing he saw before the blanket of darkness claimed him was Kolyat looking young and scared.

* * *

"Hanar poison? You mean the stuff they secrete from their tentacles? Gross."

Shepard laughed at Kolyat's expression and hopped off the examination table in the medical bay of the _Normandy_. "Must have passed the security checkpoint though. The sensors must automatically disregard hanar toxins—they can hardly turn off their own bodies after all."

"Nevertheless," Dr. Chakwas said, giving Shepard's chart another once over, "even with the quick thinking of Captain Bailey, it was, in the end, your Cerberus upgrades that saved your life. I'm not clear exactly how the poison was neutralized—Operative Lawson is not very forthcoming with Project Lazarus secrets—but I suppose if it works, I shouldn't complain." She set down the datapad and patted his arm. "However, your electrolytes are a bit lower than I would like. Get a nutrient drink from the kitchen, and I expect you to sleep a minimum of eight hours tonight."

"Will do, doc."

Shepard and Kolyat filed out of the med bay. Knowing that Chakwas was watching from her windows, he headed straight to the fridge in the kitchen area. Rupert always kept leftovers, snacks, and nutrient drinks handy for the biotics on the team—Shepard figured Jacob wouldn't mind if he snagged one of the drinks. He popped the cylindrical container and downed a few quick swallows, leaning against the counter.

"So," Shepard began, eyeing the young drell over the rim of his drink, "want to tell me what you and Mouse were fighting about?"

Kolyat looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "He, uh, said something stupid. That's all."

"Something 'stupid'?" Shepard frowned.

"Mouse… well, he'd been having a bad day, I think." Kolyat shrugged. "A client didn't pay as expected, so I guess he was angry. But he said something… disrespectful about… you."

Shepard opened his mouth in surprise.

"I know it was stupid to let him goad me," Kolyat said hurriedly, inner eyelids blinking. "It won't happen again."

Shepard cleared his throat, a warm feeling flaring unexpectedly in his chest. "All right."

Kolyat leaned against the edge of the counter, looking at Shepard curiously. "Did you mean what you said… back in the warehouse?"

Shepard swallowed the liquid in his mouth. "Yeah. I keep my promises, Kolyat."

Kolyat nodded, but he still seemed troubled. "She… she said that you wouldn't have time for me. That you'd always be out saving the galaxy."

Shepard lowered the drink. "Kolyat—"

"I know it's true," he said quickly. "I mean, you stopped Saren and the geth and the Collectors. I know that there's always going to be something more important—" His words stopped as Shepard put his hands on the young drell's shoulders.

"You're important to me too, Kolyat."

The young drell blinked rapidly, nodding.

Shepard lowered his hands, gulping down the last of the drink. "But there is something I need to discuss with you. If you don't like the idea, then we don't have to do it."

"What?"

Shepard gestured to the mess table. "Sit down and we'll talk."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Are you sure about this?" Kolyat picked at loose scale on his chin, unable to keep his hands still. The airtram zoomed quickly through the atmosphere. Within minutes, the city they had landed in disappeared from the windows and amber acres of grain flowed beneath them in undulating waves. Beside him, Miranda thumbed through a datapad—always working, Shepard thought with a smile. He turned to Kolyat.

"Completely sure? No."

Kolyat looked up at him with surprise. Shepard nodded. "I'll only be sure if you are, Kolyat. Any time you feel like it's not going to work out, just send a message my way, and I'll come get you, no questions asked."

"And... you'll come visit, right?"

"Whenever I can," he promised. "And when I can't, there's always vid-mail." He paused, watching the drell, but he didn't seem too anxious. "These people are like family to me, Kolyat. I think you'll like them."

"I… I hope so."

The airtram slowed to a stop at a smaller town. Shepard, Miranda, and Kolyat disembarked, the latter shouldering a small bag. The bulk of his belongings had arrived a few days before.

"Come on." Shepard led the way through the rest of the people milling around the platform, entering and exiting airtrams on their way to different destinations on Amaterasu.

"Koen!"

"Don't call him that! It's rude!"

"He _said_ I could, Lynn!"

"It doesn't matter what he said, it's still rude. He's Commander Shepard!"

"Don't say it so loud! Do you want the whole of Nodame Station to hear you?"

Shepard, Miranda, and Kolyat approached four dark-haired women, the two youngest of which were glaring at each other. The oldest, an elegant woman with a few silver strands in her black hair, stepped forward, hand outstretched.

"Commander, it's good to finally meet you in person," said Rebecca Williams, smiling warmly as she shook his hand.

"Dr. Williams, a pleasure—"

"Rebecca, please."

"This is Miranda Lawson," Shepard said, gesturing at the woman beside him. "She, uh—"

"Kolyat is important to Koen, so he's important to me too," Miranda interjected, laying a hand on Shepard's arm. He looked down at her, a warm smile on his lips.

Rebecca Williams nodded. "I'm glad." Turning to her daughters, she gestured, "These are my girls: Abigail, Lynn, and Sarah." A note of pride entered her voice. "Abby just got back from a consult with her florist and wedding planner—she'll soon be Abigail Kwon."

"Congratulations," Shepard said, noting the sparkling ring on the older girl's finger. He shook the girls' hands, his eyes lingering on Sarah. She didn't resemble Ash physically so much as it was the way she carried herself—arms crossed, head high, a steely glint shining from hazel eyes. _"Sar and I got real close. We… bonded."_

Sarah met his eyes with frank appreciation. "Ash told us he was cuter in person than on the vids, and she wasn't lying!"

"Sarah!" Lynn groaned, her face blooming red. Abigail just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I take it you're Kolyat Krios," she said coming forward, hand extended.

Kolyat looked startled at being addressed by Abigail—but then, Shepard reflected, he'd probably never seen a corset and such a poufy dress before. Those tube-dresses women wore all over the galaxy had been the rage for more than three years—according to Miranda, at least. It was partially her disdain for women's current fashion that had dictated her attachment to her bodysuit. Not that Shepard minded.

"Uh, yeah," Kolyat said, recovering. "Nice to meet you all."

"I'm glad to welcome you to our home, Kolyat," Rebecca said. "Commander Shepard told you I'm a professor at the local college, yes? When you're ready, I can set you up with an academic advisor, and we can see about getting you started."

"Mom, he doesn't want to talk about school the minute he gets here," Sarah said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed Kolyat by the arm and tugged him forward. "Let's go get something to eat. Do drell eat meat?"

"Um, yes…" Kolyat looked over his shoulder at Shepard who nodded reassuringly. "Usually bugs—"

"No way!" Sarah's expression was a mixture of shock and admiration.

"Yeah," Kolyat said, gaining confidence. "The crunchy ones are the best—"

A collective squeal of feminine disgust made Shepard chuckle. The adults lingered behind the young people as they made their way out of the station and into the summer sunshine of Amaterasu's sun.

-end-

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Sorry the last chapter was so short, but I didn't want to drag it out. I may have one more update - there might be a fanart of Koen and Kolyat coming in the future. I'll post the URL here when it comes. I also have a couple of scraps from Koen's past that I never used. I might post them and the fanart in a "bonus items" chapter._

_Also we don't know how old Ashley's sisters are - only Sarah. Since Sarah was supposedly the youngest and Ashley the oldest, here are their ages in this story: Abby 25, Lynn 20, Sarah 18_

_Thanks to We Will Conquer - beta reader and slayer of misplaced semi-colons!  
_


	11. Deleted Scene

Bonus content!

A/N: The very first glimmerings of "Promises" started out with the stuff below. I originally had some thought of writing out Koen's backstory-Kolyat and Thane weren't involved at all. But then somehow I got the idea of Thane entrusting his son with Shepard and melded the two ideas together. The below scene was recycled to Chapter 5, though shortened and rewritten to be from Koen's POV.

It's a good thing, actually, since the below scene ended on a rather boring note. But, hey, that's what deleted scenes are for, yes?

* * *

Josiah grimaced at an ache in his back as he bent over to pick up a piece of crumpled paper from the common room of the small church. Late morning sun peered through upper windows along the back wall, but aside from the drone of traffic outside, it was quiet. Too quiet.

"Lord, if there's something important I'm supposed to do today, better let me in on the secret."

Josiah, or Reverend Joe, as the neighborhood kids liked to call him, walked to the back of the common room where the small kitchenette waited. He noted with a little pride the smaller, dextro-amino fridge: that had been quite an investment of the church's limited funds, but Josiah had stood his ground with the church board. The day that poor quarian boy had wandered in, half starving and injured, was burned forever into his mind. He'd given what aid he could to the kid, but without any dextro-amino food, the quarian had to leave. Josiah wondered about him to this day.

Stomach rumbling, Josiah decided it was as good a time as any for a late breakfast, and set about making an omelet and brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

The coffee drip had barely stopped when the front door that led directly onto the street burst open. Josiah looked up, startled, in time to see a small, grimy child slam the door shut and lean against it, breathing hard. A small cut on the boy's head bled, but not heavily and there was a bruise just starting to darken on his cheekbone.

"You chose a good place, kid," Josiah said, coming out from the kitchen so that he was visible, but staying back, cup of coffee in hand—a non-threat. "The church is neutral territory."

"So?" The kid's voice was bold, ringing loudly across the space between them.

Josiah smiled. "Tenth Street Reds, right?"

The kid gaped at him and then narrowed his eyes. "How'd you know I was a Red?"

"The red paint in your hair kinda gives it away."

The kid's face blanked for a moment and he put his hand up to his short-cropped hair, and looked at it. Drying red paint streaked his palm. "Stupid Digg," he muttered. "I knew he was doing something. They wouldn't tell me what."

Josiah sipped his coffee, considering. The kid was clearly what neighborhood slang called a "scrub"—a young, new initiate to the gang. The streak of red paint was his gang's particular favored method of hazing. He'd seen it before: the scrub would be branded a Tenth Street Red in an obvious way, blindfolded, and then dumped inside a rival gang's territory. If the scrub got out alive—he was a full member. If not, well, the weak didn't deserve to be a member anyway—or so the gang mentality went. The kid in front of him couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old, with the pinched, bony look of a boy not fed enough to meet his body's growing needs.

Josiah gestured to the omelet he'd made still sitting on a plate. "You hungry, kid? I just made myself some breakfast, but there's plenty here for both."

The boy turned a wary gaze on him, fingers twitching toward the ragged pocket. "Are you a perv?" he blurted out, body tense and ready to flee. "Digg said pervs trick you by giving you food and then they catch you and... do stuff."

Josiah held up his hands. "No, I'm not. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll sit on this side of the table, okay?" The kid considered this a moment, and then nodded. The plate was barely on the table before the kid started tearing into it, eyes wide and hungry.

"Want anything to drink?"

"Cof-ee," the boy said thickly around a mouthful of egg. He swallowed. "With sugar? Do you got that?"

Josiah nodded, inwardly wondering where a boy this young would have gotten a taste for coffee, but poured out a second mug without hesitation. He tried not to stare at the kid for fear of making him run, but the boy was a good example of the increasingly mixed ethnicity of Earth. Narrow, almost almond-shaped eyes proclaimed Asian ancestry somewhere not far back, but the irises were a shade of green that made him wonder if perhaps one of his parents was pure Nordic. His skin, while not as dark as Josiah's, was a warm, toasted brown, and not just tan from being outside all day. Even his hair was an oddity—it was too red to be called brown, but not red enough to be a true ginger-haired either.

"Who are you anyway?" the kid asked as the last crumbs from the omelet disappeared into his mouth.

"Josiah Shepard. You can call me Reverend Joe, if you like."

"Weird name." The kid gulped at his coffee, green eyes darting around the common area. "What's that?"

Josiah followed the kid's pointed finger. "That's my office. You can go look inside if you want." The kid looked excited and then suspicious. "I'll stay right here, if you want to look at it."

The kid scampered from the table. Josiah could see straight into the office from his seat and, amused, watched him look at the bookshelf with a mixture of awe and confusion. "What're these things?"

"Books."

"This ain't a book," the kid scoffed, poking one grimy finger at the leather binding. "Books are on data-readers. Digg showed his to me once, though half the screen don't work."

"These are old-fashioned books. You have to flip the pages manually, not read them on a screen."

"Weird," the boy said again, but seemed fascinated by the way the page flipped back and forth in his fingers.


End file.
